Strength and Weakness
by snoopykid
Summary: 'I asked if my appointment in being a team leader was a mistake. You told me that you would not consider me being a leader one of them. I need to know if you still believe that.' Based on the aftermath of Brunswick, and everyone is finally safe in Argus. In the quiet night, the events catch up to the team. Weaknesses are exposed, but strength is renewed.
1. Chapter 1

You can thank my friend for getting me involved in this feeling induced series. I do not own RWBY and this takes place sometime between this week's episode and last week's episode. Also I borrowed elements from the Anthology Manga series so yea…

 **Strength and Weakness**

There was no real way to pinpoint the when it happened. She supposed it could have happened after her talk with Professor Port the day after their initiation into Beacon; her promise that she had made, " _Just know, that I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have_." She had meant it back then, but only in matters of a 'working' relationship. She hadn't actually intended on being friends or 'best friends forever' type friends; hell she hadn't even counted on being family.

She stared at the ceiling from her sleeping bag in Jaune's sister's living room; having finally arrived after the dreadful events of Brunswick farms. Weiss shivers as the flashes of the Apathy cross her mind and turns on to her side facing the seemingly sleeping forms of Yang and Blake. She frowns deeply as she recalls Blake's explanation when she and Yang apologized for their behavior. She had mentioned that it was those Grimm that made them feel the helplessness and tiredness; however she isn't too sure that was entirely the case.

Rolling back over she continues to stare upwards as Ruby's devastated face crosses her mind. Her frown deepens as those silver eyes are normally filled with light and hope; but in those moments they were dull and lifeless…all because of them…her…filling Ruby's head with doubt. In fact it wasn't until this thought crossed her mind that she realized Ruby had been fighting the hopelessness they were all filled with during their short stay at the farm.

Ruby's words were playing in her head, the desperate need to assure them that what they were doing had a real purpose; that they shouldn't give up despite learning Ozpin's past and the truth that they couldn't simply destroy Salem. For those few precious hours, Ruby still managed to try and assure them, but all it took was Yang and her revealing their doubt to pressuring her to just dispose of the Relic of Knowledge down that damned well that she loss the will to continue.

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and clenched her jaw, " _I hope to be strong enough to protect her happiness and optimism_." Her own thought echoing from her head from a memory the more she had gotten to know her team leader. She failed. Failed miserably and then as if to add salt to the wound in her heart, she never had asked Ruby how she had been holding up during their stay.

Speaking of Ruby, she turned once more to see that Yang and Blake were still in their sleeping bags, and then rolling over to her other side, she saw that Ruby's bag was empty. She sat up startled and looked around to Jaune, Ren, and Nora sleeping in their sleeping bags. Maria had taken a guest room, and Oscar had taken the other one with Qrow.

"Hey you alright?" Weiss turned to see Yang and Blake sitting up. It was Yang who asked the question, lavender eyes seeming to glow against the dying fire place.

"What are you doing up?" Weiss whispered back.

"Couldn't sleep, but it seems that is the case for you as well;" Blake responded knowingly. Then looking to where Weiss's gaze had fallen to, "Where is Ruby?"

Before Weiss could retort, Yang sighed, "Come on. Let's go find her before she gets into trouble." Nodding in agreement, they got up and based on the darkness and silence of the house, they could only assume that Ruby had gone outside. So carefully they made their trek across the living room, and snuck out the door.

They didn't have to go far before Blake, with her cat ears, picked up faint whispers coming from the backyard, "Thank you for meeting me, I know you must be tired…properly tired not Grimm Apathy tired." Ruby's hushed voice with a forced attempt at humor.

"It's alright. However I don't know exactly how this will go. He has been quiet ever since that incident with Jinn." Oscar's equally unsure tone responding, "It is kind of eerie."

Motioning for Yang and Weiss to not do anything to disturb this meeting, they stealthy moved forward to see the Ruby and Oscar just looking at each other; and Blake, for her part, didn't need her cat instincts to know that something didn't feel right with this meeting, and looking at her other two teammates, she knew that they felt the same way. So for now, they hung back, waiting in the shadows for one of them to start talking again.

" _Ruby, I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. I would not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them_." Ozpin's words had echoed in her head since the beginning when she had first questioned him if he had made the right choice of making her team leader. Those words had only grown in weight since the fall of Beacon to nearly being unbearable since learning the truth and setting foot on that damned farm, " _Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you are not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you_?"

What reason in deed? She tried hard to fight the Apathy. Even before they knew that was the cause of their distress. She had wanted to believe Blake that it was because of those Grimm, but really she couldn't blame those creatures entirely. She could see the truth in the eyes of everyone there, they had been tired. Tired of the fighting, of the loss, the hopelessness; and Ruby couldn't fault them for it, but she tried damn it! Tried hard to be the hope, to be the voice of reason, to be…to be a leader. Yet she failed. Failed because she had a weak moment, a moment that could have costed them everything. Weak in will and strength. Blake's unconscious form crossed into her mind, what would have happened had she not used her powers? Had Maria not realized what color her eyes had been, or helped her focus on using that strange power again in that tunnel?

She didn't want to think about it, but lying there, staring aimlessly up at the ceiling made her relive those moments again, and more moments from before Brunswick farm. In her mind, she didn't think she performed her best, that there was always something more she should be doing. So it was with that thought, she had discreetly pulled her scroll out and sent a silent message to Oscar to meet her outside, that she needed to talk to her headmaster.

Now though, under the shatter remains of the moon with Ozpin's words ringing ever more loudly in her head, she took a deep breath unsure if she was going to get the answer she desperately needed, "He hasn't been communicating with you?" Ruby decided to ask.

Oscar shook his head almost defeated, "I've tried talking with him but he won't answer. Like I said, it's been eerie."

"Is he still-"

"He's there, I know he is still there; but it's like he's retreated so far back into my self-conscious that it's like he might as well not be there…if that makes sense."

Ruby nodded and bit her lip, before eventually deciding to say, "Well you are him in some way I suppose, and I need my headmaster." Then looking unsure again, she asked, "Would it be too weird if I start talking to you like I would talk to him? Let me know and I can figure something else out."

Oscar looked at the young woman with pity. He was used to seeing Ruby holding herself with such confidence that he was sure nothing could break her, that she was invincible; it scared him to see her looking so vulnerable. However this was his chance to feel useful, and in all honesty he wanted the same young woman back that gave him something to hope for, "Of course. Whatever you want me to be, I will try my best to be." He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Ruby, for the first time since leaving the farm, genuinely smiled and grabbed his hand giving it a squeeze, "Thank you." Letting go of his hand, her smile fell and she took another deep breath looking at Oscar with her piercing silver eyed gaze that nearly made his heart stop, "Professor, Oscar says you are still with him. You do not have to talk with me, but I need you to at least listen."

He saw Ruby falter a bit, but then felt something faintly stirring, nodding encouragingly to her, she continued, "Once upon a time, you told me that you made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on the planet. Remember? It was just after you witnessed Weiss's and my argument after Professor Port's class and I asked if my appointment in being a team leader was a mistake." She bit her lip, "You told me that you would not consider me being a leader to be one of them. I need to know if you still believe that." She turned her self-loathing gaze downward towards the ground.

Weiss and Yang felt their jaws nearly drop at this, and the sudden pull to go to their leader was strong, but Blake (fighting the same instinct) held them both back. Clearly this was something Ruby was struggling with for a long while now and if Ozpin was the one she wanted to confide in, then who were they to stop it?

"I am trying hard to be the team leader that everyone needs; but it just seems like my best isn't enough anymore. Proof of that was back at the farm. I tried to give hope and encouragement, but it wasn't enough. I wasn't enough, then we almost got killed because of my weakness. I dropped the relic down the well; it was my fault that we were almost killed."

"No Ruby-" Oscar tried to speak up.

Ruby's remark caused Yang's protective nature to flare up, "Ruby…" She whispered.

"It wasn't her fault." Weiss muttered, "It was mine."

"Ours." Yang growled out.

"It was no one's." Blake stated softly and firmly, "It was those Apathy." Wasn't it? Or was it a combination? She hadn't said much in the matter when they were around the well, but then again she didn't try very hard to fight the hopelessness like Ruby had.

Weiss and Yang silently disagreed with Blake's assessment. Yang was Ruby's older sister, she was supposed to support her and encourage her, not bully her into giving up like she had. Weiss had promised to be the best she could be, and knowing she hadn't even realized Ruby's true feelings deep down…what kind of partner was she? What kind of friend was she?

"Oscar please;" Ruby stated looking at him imploringly, "I need to get this out with any interruptions."

Oscar nodded, but the faint feeling became stronger. As if an inner strength somehow was awaken from a deep slumber. He knew that Ruby's words reached the dormant wizard inside of him, "I'm sorry, please continue."

Ruby nodded, and sighed, "I am sorry Professor. I shouldn't have judged you too harshly. I may not fully understand your reasoning or logic, but I think I can understand of failing the ones you love. I feel like I failed the ones I love too." She looked away again, "I invaded your privacy. I asked the question, and I betrayed your trust. I made you relive your darkest memories. For that I am sorry."

 _Ruby_ , Oscar was momentarily startled by the voice, but did his best to hide it. He did however unconsciously fix his posture so that his back was straighter and griped the cane on his belt loop, "I understand if you are regretting your decision of me being a leader, I understand if I let you down. I am willing to do whatever I can to make you not regret your decision, to seek your forgiveness, to regain your trust. To restore your faith." She reached towards her belt and unclipped the relic. To everyone's amazement, she held it out for Oscar, "I am giving you the relic back. What I am about to do once we can get to the base towards Atlas, I will not be needing it."

"What the hell is she talking about?" Weiss demanded to know.

Yang was quiet, not understanding Ruby's words and yet not liking the look in the seemingly glowing silver eyes. Blake, gasped though and knew exactly what the young leader has planned, "She is not coming with us to Atlas." She muttered.

This stirred something in Oscar and suddenly he felt a huge pull in his core and knew that he was no longer in control as now he trapped in his own mind, Ozpin finally taking over. Ruby saw Oscar's hazel eyes glimmer for a brief moment and his hand reached for his cane so that he was leaning on it in a familiar fashion, "Ms. Rose." His voice was different, tired, but it was so familiar that Ruby almost smiled, keyword almost, "What are you alluding to?"

"Professor, it is just as I said. I am trying to make amends, and I know you want to as well. So I am using the relic as an olive branch of sorts." She did not pull away, still holding the relic out for him to take.

Ozpin did not reach for it, just looking at her. Analyzing her words and actions, trying with his might to read through her, "You are not going to Atlas. You are abandoning your team."

Ruby frowned, but did not drop her arms, "I am not. I am going to ask Maria to train me. To help guide me. I will only hold them back;" looking away she stated softly with an edge of bitterness, "I might even get one or all of us killed."

Ozpin frowned deeply, "That is not true. What you said to…me." He stated, "I do not regret making you team leader. It is possibly the only thing I've done right these last few centuries. You have nothing to apologize for."

"I hurt you. I hurt us. I loss faith and hope. I nearly got us killed. What good am I?" She almost yelled, but her voice did raise a few octaves.

Ozpin shook his head, "So what if you allowed a moment of weakness? It wasn't all your fault. It was the-"

"Do not just blame the Apathy. They would have had to have something to latch on to…to feed off of and I am not just talking about having the relic on hand either." Ruby sighed and held out the relic once more, "Please Professor. I am not abandoning them. I want to protect them, and I cannot do that if I cannot control these powers. I will only slow us down. You know this."

"Yet you took the time to train Oscar, to help him and myself."

She huffed tiredly, "That was different. That was when we had time. We do not have time. We have to get this to Atlas."

Ozpin looked into the tired silver eyes that once held brightness and eagerness. Filled with hope and joy for life's treasures and love. Now tired, and aged; having seen and lived through too much for such a young age. He sighed, "I see you've thought about this."

Ruby nodded, "It's something I cannot stop thinking about. I've let a lot of people down I feel like."

"Can you assure me that you are not running away though? That you are not using this as an excuse?"

Ruby glared harshly at him this time. Her eyes now glowing from the anger she felt at his words instead of the shatter moonlit night, "Running away?! An excuse?! I nearly watched those damned Grimm kill Blake! Because of me and my weakness I almost got us killed in that tunnel! Where were you?! Hiding in Oscar's mind because why?! I forced a secret out that you probably wouldn't have told us about! So do not question if I am running away!"

Before he could comment further, Ruby dug in more not knowing what she was saying or caring, "You do not know what happened to us. Blake just up and left us with no word or warning." She growled out making Blake flinch at the venom behind the words, "Weiss…I may not know a whole lot about her home life, but I think I gathered enough to know that it wasn't filled with the love Yang and I had, aside from her sister that is. So I can only imagine how she felt isolated from the rest of Mistral." Weiss winced as she recalled that feeling of loneliness and isolation. Ruby was right; aside from her butler Klein, Winter was the only one to show her some type of affection. However Winter wasn't around when she was home.

"Yang…" Yang's head perked at this, wondering with dread what she was going to hear from her sister's angry remarks, "I had to watch her nearly waste away since she had loss her arm at Beacon! Do you know what it was like for me to watch someone who had a strong inferno fire inside of them like Yang has to just watch it go out? Extinguish into bare nothingness?! Then what? I leave her? She lost Blake that day, but then not only a week or so later I leave her?" Yang lets out a sob, but it was just loud enough to draw Ozpin's attention.

"Ruby please-" Ozpin starts to say as he sees the rest of team RWBY in the shadows. The girls try to sink back into the shadows, but they were already seen, and he motions them quickly to stay.

"No. No, you do not get to feel sorry for me. I watched Pyrrha kill my best friend Penny in that tournament; then no sooner did that happen I watched that bitch," she spat the word out shocking the older girls, "kill Pyrrha. Then my team splits up and there was nothing I could do to help! I couldn't help Blake, Weiss, or my own sister! So what the hell kind of leader am I?!"

Shaking herself, Ruby takes a deep breath and regains control of her emotions. This is just enough of a pause for Ozpin to intervene gently, "Have you told anyone of this? Confided in your team perhaps? Qrow?"

Ruby shakes her head, "No. They have enough things to worry about, than to worry about me."

"That isn't true you idiotic dolt!" Weiss snaps out still silently with bitterness at underestimating how much Ruby had been holding in.

"Were we that so wrapped up in our own pain we didn't see her's?" Blake questioned more gently.

"I am her older sister. Why didn't I see this?" Yang questioned angrily at her own blindness, "I should have seen this…"

Ozpin sighs deeply, feeling that time for him to relinquish control to Oscar was almost at hand, "Very well. There seems like nothing I could say to change your mind. Tell me about this olive branch."

Ruby nods, "I am giving you the relic back in hopes I can trust you once more like I trusted you when we were in school."

"Trust me to do what?"

"Protect them while I am gone. I plan on asking Maria tomorrow to train me separately from the team."

Ozpin nods, but does not take the relic, "You haven't even asked Ms. Calavera yet about this plan of your's?"

Ruby looked away and kicked the ground beneath her feet, "I've mentioned it once, but I need to talk to her more about it. I told her if she wanted to still do that right thing, she could teach me more about my eyes."

Ozpin again nodded, "Then why don't we do this instead. Talk to Ms. Calavera, and depending on what she says, talk to me more about taking the relic back."

"What?"

He allowed himself to smile at her confusion, "You heard me. What is the point in turning the relic back over to me when Maria hasn't even given her word to train you? Besides I think you may find it harder than you think to just leave us."

Ruby was watching him as he smiled his signature 'I know something you don't' smile, "I am going to leave to train whether she says it's alright or not."

"Go sleep on it, then we will talk some more." He reached out and pushed the relic back towards her, "Like I said, I've made many mistakes. You've seen this, but making you team leader wasn't one of those mistakes." Ruby looked at him and at his hands, "You can never let us down nor fail us."

Ruby hesitates, but does as he suggests. She clips the relic back on her belt and turns away to walk inside. Ozpin watches her go, and makes sure she is in the house before motioning the others out of hiding, "So what did you learn?"

"We are crappy teammates." Yang states not surprised that they were found out by their former headmaster.

"We didn't realize she was hiding so much emotion." Blake says sadly.

"I let her down. I broke my promise." Weiss whispered.

Ozpin sighs, "There is still more to learn, as I am currently learning. The important thing is what we do from here on out."

"How do we do that?" Weiss asks not really forgiving the man for his secrets, but at the same time willing to listen if it meant helping her friend.

Ozpin kept his glance towards the house, Oscar's aura growing stronger as he pleaded for a bit more time, "Watching her closely and perhaps stopping her from making any rash decisions. Talking to her, and just continue acting at your very best." With that he allowed Oscar to regain control.

Oscar was back looking at the girls, he had heard and listened to everything that was being said between Ruby and the wizard. He reached out and felt Ozpin's aura once again and was oddly comforted that there was no deep cavernous hole in his soul anymore. Instead there was a simmer of light, but for now there was another problem, "She wouldn't really leave would she?"

Yang pounded her fists together, "Not if we have anything to say about it. I am not letting my sister down again."

"I know a thing or two about hiding emotion." Blake said crossing her arms, "I am not letting that happen to Ruby anymore."

Weiss nodded, "She is not getting away from us. Unfortunately for her, where she goes we go. We said we'd help her, and that is what we are going to do because she is our teammate." _And my best friend_.


	2. Chapter 2

Ok so some people have asked me about a part two to this story. I hadn't really planned on one, but seeing as how I have a little time and the inspiration…here you go. By the way if you do not have a Rooster Teeth account, you may not have seen the new episode today (in other words an episode behind). Therefore there may be spoilers in this segment, but I will try not to spoil it too much and I will warn you when that occurs.

 **Strength and Weakness**

" _The huntresses slayed the Grimm that attacked the city; the people praised the huntresses and heroes. The end_."

Phantom words of a long forgotten memory came to the forefront of Yang's mind. She sighed as she held the book that was identical to the one she had read Ruby when they were just young and innocent girls: _**Hunters' Story**_.

She could still recall Ruby's eyes lighting up, with the exclamation of how hunters were so cool and how she would beg her to read it over again to the point where now Yang had memorized most of the stories to this very day. Sighing again she even recalled the very night where Ruby had awaken her after the fifth time of her reading the stories making a serious proclamation that she was going to be a huntress.

Yang sighed again as she took her hand (the actual one), and gently rubbed it over the hard covered book, fingers feeling the raised letters, "You alright?" She turned to see Blake standing next to her.

They hadn't talked much since the awkward and rather harsh moment in the barn; last night baring the exception, however that was more or less about Ruby and not an actual personal question, "Just reflecting." She responded lightly still looking at the book and not at the faunus.

Blake looked at her friend and teammate then to the book. She smiled softly, "My mother used to read some of those stories to me."

"I read it to Ruby all the time. It was the only story she ever wanted." Yang said sadly, "It got to the point where I can still recall some of the tales with perfection to this day."

Blake picked up the hint of sadness as Yang placed the book back on the shelf. Everyone was just getting up for breakfast. Ren and Jaune were in the kitchen, helping Saffron and her wife make pancakes. It was nearly time to put their plan to intercept Ruby from talking to Maria. They had discussed with Oscar (and in consequence Ozpin) that they would try to talk to Maria first before Ruby. It was decided that Weiss would try to get Ruby out of the house for fifteen twenty minutes while she and Yang talked with Maria about the young leader.

Shaking her head, Blake said, "Look can I talk to you…before we talk to Maria?" she whispered the last part and hesitantly looked towards the living room where Ruby was uncharacteristically slowly getting her stuff together and Weiss was taking her own time to make sure that she could catch Ruby.

Yang cocked her head to the side and was pulled out of her own brooding. She nodded and discreetly, they went outside through the front door. Stepping on the sidewalk, Blake held her arm and Yang noticed how her cat ears seemed to press to her head as a sign of nervousness, "Blake-" Yang started to say ready to cut her teammate off before she could have a chance to utter out a single word.

"I am sorry ok?" Blake quickly got out, "For whatever it is I said in the barn. I am sorry if I ruined any chance of us being alright."

Yang frowned deeply and crossed her arms, taking a defensive position at first. However for once, going against her in grained character, she thought before reacting. Seeing her friend looking so defeated wasn't right, and made her stomach double over with guilt. Taking a deep breath, she relaxed herself. She couldn't afford be fighting two fights right now: one with her own sister, and the other with her best friend; and right now she needed her best friend if she was going to help her sister, "Blake…please stop apologizing. If you want to make things right between us, then stop it ok?"

Blake was about to speak, when Yang held up her hand once more, "Seriously enough." Lavender eyes flashed red for a brief instant, but seeing Blake flinch she once again took a deep breath and said, "This is why you are making things worse. You are apologizing for things that do not need apologizing for." Then she looked away, "In fact I should be apologizing to you. I am sorry for the way I reacted."

"What did I say to make you so upset?"

"Treating me like I am weak. I hate that; you made it seem like I cannot protect myself…or any of us; and I hate that." Blake frowned as she recalled her own words, words that were meant to be reassuring she could see from a strong individual like Yang to take them the wrong way, "I know that you meant well, and I shouldn't have taken my own frustrations out on you like that. So I am sorry."

Blake was still shocked, but she smiled softly and reached out to grab Yang's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze, "I should have been more aware on how you felt; and I'll accept your apology if you accept mine."

Yang looked at the intertwined hands and nodded, "Deal."

They gave a brief shared smile until Yang's dropped suddenly, "Hey what is it?"

"I have a feeling that dealing with Ruby isn't going to be this easy." Taking a deep breath Yang added, "She is just as stubborn as I am, especially if what she is planning on doing is protecting us."

"Well we will not let her. How many times have you told me that we were partners and that I could rely on you…all of you? It applies to you and to her as well." Blake paused and then bit her lip, not knowing if she crossed the line.

Yang however laughed and nodded, "Yes I suppose that is true for the both of us. Now come on and let's get back inside so we can complete our own little mission." Grabbing her partner's hand again, she pulled Blake back inside, the faunus smiled with hope, thinking that perhaps admitting one's weakness out loud and allowing your friends to help shoulder some of the burden was a form of strength that perhaps they were all still learning.

Meanwhile, Weiss saw the front door opening and Yang pulling Blake back inside. She sensed that those two still had their own barrier to overcome, but seeing the spark in the faunus and brawler's eyes again warmed her heart and gave her hope. The warmth feeling didn't last long though when she looked at her leader's near vacant expression. The hope was still there, but seeing that the tables were getting set and that breakfast was almost done, she used that hope to fuel her determination. Placing her stuff to the side, she went over to Ruby to start her area of the plan: getting Ruby out of the house for at least twenty minutes, "Hey Ruby?"

Ruby was startled out of her own brooding at the sound of her partner's voice. Her thoughts had been in a dark place since last night when Ozpin had told her that they would talk later after she had talked to Maria. Needless to say she hadn't gotten any sleep. To top it all off, when she had gone back inside, she saw that her team had went MIA on her. She had almost gone out and searched for them, but by the time she had made her decision to go look for them, they had come back in claiming that they too couldn't sleep and had gone for a walk around the block in the neighborhood. She wasn't all too sure if she believed them, but given that they were all pretty exhausted had let the lie slide, "What's up Weiss?" Ruby eventually responded with a cough, trying to sound normal and chipper.

Weiss internally frowned at how hard Ruby was trying. It disappointed her that for all the times Ruby had reminded her that they were a team and that she could trust them; Ruby was currently failing at her own advice, "I was wondering if you can come outside with me and take a look at Myrtenaster."

"Wait what?" Ruby asked dumbly giving her a baffled gaze.

It was so genuinely comical and so much like that old Ruby that Weiss almost laughed. Keyword was almost, but how she wanted to. She kept her composure and said as casually as she could, "With everything that has happened since I left Atlas, I do not want to take any chances that something could be wrong with it; and you are a self-proclaimed weapons expert are you not? I mean after all you designed and built Crescent Rose right?"

"Well yes." Ruby said slowly as she got up from the floor where she had been sitting in thought. She picked up her sweetheart and gently ran her hand over the weapon, "However I offered in the past to help you with maintenance on Myrtenaster, but you always refused;" without giving Weiss an opportunity to retort Ruby continued, "we are in the city, why not have a local smith look at it?"

Weiss didn't like the suspicion or how Ruby's eyes seemed to darken slightly to match the tone. She thought about lying; claiming she didn't have any money…which she supposed was true at this point, but she thought any great lie should be as close to the truth as possible. With that line of self-reasoning she also decided to play on Ruby's caring nature, "I just want to spend some time with you. You just seemed pretty down and I thought I might be able to help." Getting some encouragement now when she saw Ruby's eyes soften a bit, Weiss added, "We are BFF's right?"

This struck a chord in Ruby that she didn't know that it was there. It was a memory from the early times in Beacon. They had still been getting to know one another and it just so happened that Ruby noticed there was something wrong with Weiss when she hadn't finished breakfast one morning. She had gone to the room to talk to Weiss and the heiress had told her she had a bad dream that had been haunting her.

' _It felt like I would end up alone. What if…I really do_?'

' _You're not alone. Aren't we BFF's_?'

Ruby looked down as she thought over Weiss's words some more. Is this what feeling alone was really like? Mentally she shook herself. No she knew what feeling alone was like, and this…well this was what responsibility was like. Thinking and planning the next move, being a leader, doing what was necessary, making sacrifices. Right?

She looked at Weiss and saw the former heiress giving her a hopeful smile, "Yea we are." Ruby smiled softly, "However as much as I would love to play with Myrtenaster, I need to talk with Ms. Calavera about something important before breakfast."

"Ruby please. I really do need Myrtenaster looked at."

"Weiss can't it wait?" Ruby asked now getting annoyed and all soft feelings vanished.

Weiss hesitated and just gave Ruby a softer look, one that she knew even in Ruby's agitated state couldn't say no to, "Please? I know Crescent Rose needs attention…"

Ruby sighed and then look at her own weapon. Damn it, Weiss had a point. She looked to the stairs and then back at Weiss. Well she supposed that talking to Maria could wait. After all no use in trying to convince the Grimm Reaper she was ready for training if her own weapon wasn't one hundred percent, "Fine let's go." Weiss gave herself a mental fist pump, and nodded to Yang and Blake, who managed to catch her eye. Grabbing Myrtenaster, she followed Ruby out the backdoor.

Yang and Blake watched the duo leave. Together they sighed out a breath of relief having seen Ruby's posture becoming defensive and agitated, "Glad Weiss was able to drag Ruby away." Blake commented.

"Well Ruby does care a lot about weapons." Yang said lightly, once again the image of her younger sister fawning over her 'precious sweetheart' the morning of the initiation.

Blake nodded and stole a glance at her partner, "But that was close, she was refusing to help Weiss with Myrtenaster. Remember that time she wanted to redesign our outfits?"

This got a laugh she was looking for, "Oh my gods yes. Weiss in armor. Can you imagine?"

Blake chuckled lightly, "Your outfit though…you were really considering it weren't you?"

Yang shook her head, "I was, but then again I would do anything to keep her smiling." She looked forlornly at the door they had exited out of, "Come on. Let's go talk to Maria before they come back."

Turning towards the stairs the pair made their way up, passing Nora as they went, "Morning!" She greeted in a chipper mood, "How did you sleep?"

"Better than the last few nights." Blake answered.

"Yea much needed." Yang responded.

Nora nodded not sensing the mood shift, "Great, Jaune and Ren have breakfast out yet?"

"Almost I think they were setting the table. Is Maria and Oscar still up there?" Yang asked as Nora passed them.

Stopping at the landing, she said, "Yea, and your Uncle is with them. However, I do not think your Uncle is in the best of moods right now. He was yelling at Oscar a bit ago. I do not know what it was about, but he sounded pretty agitated." Then she asked, "Where are Ruby and Weiss?"

"Oh Ruby is looking Myrtenaster over for Weiss quick before breakfast, and we wanted to talk to Maria quick. Thanks for the heads up." Yang said as she continued going up the stairs followed by Blake, leaving Nora to hum in suspicion before heading to the kitchen. Something changed in team RWBY that much was clear to team JNR. They had discussed it briefly while team RWBY had gotten settled, but they couldn't pin-point what. Nora shook her head as she made her way to the kitchen, maybe Jaune or Ren had some idea.

Quiet yelling could be heard when Yang and Blake came to the guest room. They heard Oscar's voice, then it was abruptly cut-off by Qrow's, then a scolding from the older woman. Hesitantly, Blake knocks on the door, and a guff 'enter' is heard. They opened the door and snuck inside, "What is going on?" Yang demands to know looking at the agitated group.

"Qrow knew I snuck out last night and talked to Ruby. So I had to tell him about what we discussed." Oscar explained.

"And you didn't feel the need to include me in this conversation?" Qrow growled out to Yang, "That your sister is planning on bailing on us?"

Yang heaved a sigh, "She is not bailing." Then holding up her hand as Qrow opened his mouth to protest, she continued, "We were going to talk to Maria about convincing her to stay with us while she did her training."

Qrow was about to once again protest, when Maria jumped in, "Oscar has told me of this late night rendezvous with young Ms. Rose;" she sat down on her bed while Qrow grudgingly leaned against the door with his arms crossed, and Oscar stood in the corner not knowing how much he should speak now that the conversation turned to the topic at hand, "how old is your sister?"

"Seventeen." Yang answered.

"Really? Since when?" Blake asked surprised not realizing how much time had passed since she first met the young girl that night in Beacon's hall before initiation.

Yang smiled, "Since she has had two birthdays since you met her."

Before Blake could comment on Yang's wise-crack remark, Maria cut in with her own comment, "Then with all due respect to her guardian," she gave Qrow a scathing look, "and you as her sister," she gave Yang a more sympathetic look, "Ms. Rose is of age to make decisions for herself without the approval of you two."

"WHAT?!" Qrow and Yang yelled now.

"She is still just a kid!" Qrow yelled outraged.

"She doesn't know what she is saying!" Yang yelled as well as Blake held her back from tackling the old lady.

Maria slammed her cane on the floor, effectively shutting them up. She then looked towards Oscar, "Boy come here please. Join in the conversation." Oscar approached hesitantly as he kept a wary eye on Qrow and Yang. He hoped Blake had a good hold of Yang in case he (or rather Ozpin) said something that earned him a death sentence, "I need to speak to the wizard that shares your soul."

Oscar sighs, he was afraid of this. There was a warm feeling of reassurance, and then a pull in his core. They watched as the boy straightened his posture and pulled his cane from his belt, "Hello Ms. Calavera." Ozpin greeted the woman with a small inclination of his head. Then he looked at Qrow with a small frown, "Hello Qrow."

"Ozpin;" Qrow growled out as he made a fist with his hands, "So you finally grace us with your presence once more." Ozpin frowns more deeply at his comment, "Did you really agree to Ruby's ridiculous demands?"

Ozpin sighs, "Ms. Rose said somethings to me yes. She was willing to relinquish the relic over to me as a peace offering. As young Oscar explained to you, I turned her down; wanting her to talk to Ms. Calavera first before making any rash decisions. I told her to think it over."

Qrow raised his fist, but Yang pulled free of Blake and grabbed her uncle's fist mid-raise, "Which is why we were going to talk to Maria first." Then turning her lavender eyes back to the old woman she said, "You cannot let her leave us."

"As I said it is Ms. Rose's decision not yours and you cannot tell me what I can or cannot do. However," she raised her hand against the onslaught of comments and insults, "Ms. Rose has yet to state her case to me; therefore how can I say one way or the other without both stories?"

Ozpin nods, "That is true."

"You abandoned us after your secrets were exposed, I hardly doubt your opinion matters much." Qrow stated as he pulled his flask out of his jacket pocket and took a swig from it.

"Qrow shut the hell up!" Yang yelled at her uncle, "We are talking about Ruby, not Ozpin's deceit."

"Thank you Ms. Xiao-Long." Ozpin said softly, giving her a soft look of gratitude.

Yang looked at him and crossed her arms, "I am not saying I forgive you, I care more about Ruby than anything; and that is who we should be talking about."

Ozpin nods in understanding and Maria sighed, "Right, Ruby is the main focus here. Not your petty grudges against one another…which we will discuss at a later time." The old woman sighed once more and said, "Now then Yang, do you have silver eyes?"

"No. Ruby's mother did though." Yang said looking at Qrow, who nodded stiffly.

"What is the big deal with the silver eyes anyway?" Blake asked.

Maria and Ozpin looked at one another. She spoke finally after taking a deep breath, "They were more than legendary warriors of the stories. Their powers were the light of the world to help combat the darkness; however I would like to discuss this in more depth with Ms. Rose. Now then from what was told, and what your intentions are I will hear Ruby out. That is not up for debate." She looked at each of them firmly, "I will make my own decision from there."

She then looked at Ozpin, "As for you, is there anything I should know about?"

Ozpin shook his head, "Just that from what we told you of Ms. Rose's dialogue with me last night."

Maria nodded, "Alright then. Now I am hungry. Let's get food."

She pushed passed them and left them in the room, "Well that went well." Blake said slowly.

Qrow scoffed, "The hell you talking about? That went terrible. I am not letting her leave. She is staying put. No matter if that disgrace of a huntress agrees to train her or not."

Yang shook her head, "That's a laugh. You said you wanted to be like her."

Qrow glared and swore under his breath as he shoved passed her and stomped down the stairs. It was just Blake, Yang, and Ozpin in the room, "So what now Professor?" Blake asked as she caught Yang staring at the door after her uncle.

"We trust that Maria knows what she is doing. However," Yang looked at him now, not liking where this 'however' was going, "I do agree with her. Ruby is seventeen, she is no longer a child." There was a pause, "You have done a phenomenal job with looking out for your sister; but there comes a time when you have to let her try and do things on her own."

"So you are not even going to try to stop her, is that it?" Yang growled at him, eyes flashing red. Blake put a hand on her shoulder, but she threw it off; taking a predatory step towards him.

Ozpin shook his head. He began to speak, but Yang cut him off, "Save it; you better hope Ruby doesn't leave or better yet, you better hope we can stop her from leaving otherwise the next time my uncle wants to bury you into the ground instead of stopping him, I will be joining him in ending you." With that she turned and left the room.

Blake sighed and shook her head. Looking at the distressed wizard she offered him a sad smile, "I am sorry sir."

"Don't be Ms. Belladonna. I am still just as angry at myself. I know it will take a miracle for things to be good between everyone again." His hand gripped his cane, making the knuckles turn white, "I can only hope that miracle comes sooner rather than later."

"You know we have to tell team JNR about this…the things we learned from Jinn, right?" Blake asked, as she just realized they hadn't divulged anything to their fellow former classmates.

Ozpin nodded, "Yes we do. Ms. Belladonna may I ask one thing of you?"

"Sure."

Ozpin moved passed her and went towards the door. He could feel her gaze watching him closely, "When you do eventually tell them, can you do so gently? Please?"

Blake looked at him and before she could give him her answer, she saw Oscar's flash and knew that the wizard had retreated back into Oscar's subconscious, "What happened?" he asked, "Did everything turn out alright?"

Blake shook her head, "No, but hopefully it will soon." Clearly even the strongest person, had many weaknesses that couldn't hide forever.

Weiss watched with fascination as Ruby moved with Myrtenaster. She knew that the form was all wrong, but yet still in the hands of the sniper-scythe wielder, Ruby still made her weapon look fairly deadly. In fact she was impressed that Ruby was able to actually fix her weapon. Turns out her excuse worked to her advantage, her weapon did have minor kinks in the blade, and the dust chamber had been on the verge of becoming clogged and dented with the use it had been receiving. Ruby had managed to also realign the blade, sharpen it, and clean out the revolving chamber. Now she was just testing the balance, but Weiss could see that she was secretly enjoying her rapier, "Having fun there?" Weiss asked eventually, breaking the scythe wielder's concentration a bit. In all honesty she was amused by just watching.

Ruby smiled lightly, "Yes actually. However you should be testing the balance more so than me. After all it has to fit you." She gave the weapon a twirl before handing it back to her partner, "To me it is much too light."

Weiss took it and started to do her thrusts and then her defenses. She did a couple of small practice attacks before stopping, "Feels fine too me." She said smiling genuinely, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ruby responded sitting on the porch getting ready to release Crescent Rose from its compact state.

Weiss watched as Crescent Rose snapped forward in its full form. Secretly she had always been amazed at her partner's weapon, and how Ruby could so easily wield it like it was a butter knife, "How heavy is that anyway?" She asked.

"What?" Ruby asked back as she picked up a tool to start taking her scythe apart to do her own maintenance.

Weiss blushed lightly and looked away from the surprised silver gaze, "I mean I always wanted to know how you wield such a massive weapon. Like when I first met you I never really thought you would have that…" She motioned lamely to the large scythe.

Ruby had stood up now and for Weiss it was like she was seeing her leader for the first time. Ruby had looked much older than Weiss had remembered. She held herself straighter, making her appear taller. Her eyes, they were definitely almost a shade silver duller than she remembered. Her tattered cloak was the only reminder of the innocent girl her leader used to be while the rest of her ensemble sparked the maturity that seemed to radiate just as powerful as her aura, "Weiss, you alright? You are kind of freaking me out." Ruby admitted now, changing her posture.

Weiss internally scoffed even her voice was softer, having lost the boisterous high pitch excitement, "Yea Ruby I will be. Just a lot to take in."

Ruby cocked her head to the side and shifted her posture again, "Did you want to hold her?" She asked hesitantly, wanting anything to get out of the awkward moment with her best friend.

"Really?" She asked amazed. Ruby nodded and Weiss gently placed her rapier on the porch.

She held out her hands as she felt Ruby place her scythe in her partner's. She saw Weiss's arms shaking under the weight of the scythe, "Here fix your stance, and hold your hands more apart like this…" Ruby got behind her partner and helped guide her in the right position.

When she moved away, Weiss marveled at the power of the massive weapon in her hands, "What do you think?" Ruby asked smiling.

"Amazing you can still move as quickly as you do with this." Weiss said as she tried to move, but found herself struggling a bit.

Ruby laughed lightly, "You know roughly the time we started becoming friends…or better partners I should say, I had this book of team building exercises;" Weiss stopped trying to move and paused. Ruby took her scythe back and Weiss picked up Myrtenaster, "one of them was trading each other's weapons and teaching each other about them. Like I had Yang and Blake trade weapons Ember Celica and Gambol Shroud." Ruby ran a finger down Crescent Rose's handle, seeming to admire it but Weiss could see the recollection in her partner's gaze, "I would give you Crescent Rose and you would give me Myrtenaster."

"Why didn't you suggest that to us?" Weiss asked genuinely, "I would have liked to see that."

Ruby looked at her, "Well now you would. Back then, I think you were just beginning to tolerate me." Ruby looked away this time, unable to meet Weiss's blue eyed gaze, "I didn't want to bother you with stupid ideas and have you hate me again."

Weiss was about to protest as Ruby turned he back on her to start to take her scythe apart; but found she couldn't. If she was thinking around the time frame Ruby was, then it was true what her leader said. They were just starting to become a team. Partners…friends. A relationship that was new and fragile.

' _If I can keep seeing that smile, I'll always be your friend. A better friend than anybody else_.' Weiss sighed as she saw Ruby frowning. An internal promise made over a cup of coffee, "You're right." This made Ruby pause as she took the blade off. She wasn't looking at Weiss, but Weiss could tell she was listening, "I wouldn't have appreciated it then; however given the chance, I would definitely appreciate it now." Then she paused as she was hit with a sudden idea, "Hey no time like the present right?"

"What?" Ruby asked confused.

Weiss stood up, "Team building exercises. I think with everything that's happened, we need to be more in synch again!"

This brought Ruby up short. What just happened? She was supposed to just fix Weiss's rapier and her own weapon; then talk to Maria about her training…not come up with team building exercises like they were still in Beacon, "Weiss really not today. I have things I need to do and-"

"And what? Come on Ruby, I think this might be good for us. Build some morale and get to know each other again. We could do sparing matches." Ruby was becoming more overwhelmed, but Weiss was not letting her get out of this. Anything to prevent her from following through with her ridiculous plan of running off on them was good enough in her book.

Before Ruby could protest any of this, the door opened and they turned to see Maria stepping out, "Hello girls."

Weiss's enthusiasm dropped as Ruby's rose, "Ms. Calavera, I was going to find you before breakfast." Ruby greeted while mentally thanking the higher power that was there for their good timing.

"Well I am sorry but breakfast is over." The old woman said with a smile, "But your teammates were nice enough to save you a plate." Over her shoulder, Weiss noticed Blake and Yang shaking their heads, and now the small bubble of hope popped, "Ms. Rose may I have a private word with you though, I think there things we need to talk about."

Yup, bubble effectively popped, "I'll see you inside Ruby. Thanks for helping me earlier." Weiss said trying to keep her tone chipper, "I'll let Blake and Yang know about the exercise." With that she went back into the house.

Seeing the other's she asks, "Well?"

"Not good. She wouldn't agree to deny Ruby without hearing her side of the story." Yang said arms crossed.

Blake nodded, "And we have to tell the others about what we know."

"Great." Weiss sighed.

"How did it go for you?" Yang asked as she watched the older woman interact with her sister.

Weiss sighed again, "We have a lot of work to do."

 **(A/N:** _ **For the most part, there are some spoilers up ahead for episode 8- nothing too major, but I wanted to use it for this story. Read this part at your own risk and I'll let you know when it is free to continue**_ **)**

"Ms. Calavera I wanted to ask you something…it's personal and I may be asking a lot but-" Ruby struggled to get out, but the Grimm Reaper held her hand up.

Maria went over to the lawn chair and sat, she motioned for Ruby to sit as well. Taking a deep breath she said, "Before you ask your question, let's talk about your eyes."

"Ok." Ruby agreed slowly, "What about them?"

"Tell me what you know."

Ruby paused. She didn't want to admit that she didn't know much about them, but she also didn't want to appear as an idiot either, "Silver eyed people are supposed to be legendary warriors, and at Beacon I turned a dragon wyvern to stone."

Maria wasn't impressed, "Oh boy."

This got Ruby annoyed, "Look if I knew everything I wouldn't be asking for help. I wouldn't feel like I've been useless and letting anyone down." She crossed her arms and glared angrily at the ground.

"Easy with the yelling. I wasn't saying that you not knowing about your eyes is your fault. I had my father to teach me and even then he didn't know much." Sensing the young girl was relaxed a bit, she continued, "What you say is true, but it is just that. A legend. These powers are so rare because they are also dangerous. As I've told you…"

Ruby frowned, "I am sorry. I-"

Maria held her hand up, "Nothing to be sorry for. I know what you want to ask me. You want me to train you. Teach you how to use these powers."

"I want to destroy the Grimm." This earned Ruby a smack with her staff, "Ow!"

"No, these powers…your powers are not about destruction. If you want me to train you, you need to get that thought out of your head." Maria stated firmly. Taking a breath she said, "I want you to think about all the times you triggered those powers; what did they have in common?"

Ruby paused and swallowed. She closed her eyes and thought. Memories started to come to her and with those memories were a storm of emotions, "I was scared and stressed." Opening her eyes, she asked, "Is it emotional? Like activating a semblance?"

Maria nodded slowly, "It is emotional, but more focused than that. Think, what is it that you wanted?"

Ruby clenched her fists, "I wanted to protect my friends."

"Precisely. It is the desire to preserve life, which is the fuel for the light inside of you; and make no mistake, it is light." Maria sat up in the chair more and said firmly, "Preservation is a form of creation, at the very least an enemy of destruction. The creatures of Grimm were made by the God of Darkness, but your light comes from his brother."

The seventeen year old thought the words over, and looking at the older woman she asked slowly, "How do you know that?"

Maria smiled mysteriously, "I always knew how to use the light, but not why it only worked on the Grimm. Then Jinn showed us her vision. Where you paying attention?"

A flash of the dreaded memories come to Ruby's mind. The one dark purple dragon surrounded by ugly creatures and then a bright ball of light appearing, destroying them. A gold dragon appeared, but what caught her focus was the silver eyes of the God of Light, "The God of Light, his eyes..." She said slowly and then saw Maria nod. She stood up, filled with determination, "Ok where do we start?"

This amused the old Reaper, "Well not here. The light will only work in the presence of Grimm." This made Ruby deflate a bit and as if sensing the question, the woman continued, "Meaning the only practice you will get is a trial by fire, but what you can do is focus on creating a state of mind that you can tap into when you need it. Don't think about your light as a means of destroying evil, but as a way of protecting the people of Remnant."

 _The light will only work in the presence of Grimm_ …other memories came to the younger reaper. Something wasn't right…why wasn't it right…a person came to mind from haunting memories. A woman with pale complexion, black hair, and amber eyes, "But, that can't be right." Maria looked at her curiously, "You said that the light only reacts to Grimm, I used it during our battle at Haven. It reacted to Cinder."

"Interesting. Perhaps it was reacting to something that you just weren't seeing?" Maria suggested.

 **(** _ **End spoiler scene- free to continue**_ **)**

Ruby didn't know, but at the moment she didn't care, "Aside from that, I need to know how to work these powers. I didn't have anyone, but now I have you. Can you train me?"

Maria looked at the girl. They told her what Ruby had in mind and seeing how desperate the girl appeared, she knew that she truly needs help. At the same time though, the kind of help she was asking for, "I can, but we have to stay with your team."

"What?" Ruby asked having her mental celebratory party pause drastically having processed the words that came after the confirmation.

"It is important we get the relic to Atlas. We can do your training along the way."

"No. We can't. I will be distracted and lose focus." Ruby stated quickly, "I had a spastic brain in school."

"And yet you are a leader. I may be blind for the most part, but I've seen you Ruby Rose. How you take charge and coming up with plans." She smiled, "I heard about this team building idea…clever and ingenious in my opinion."

Ruby shook her head, "No, I need to focus. I need to be able to just be. I don't want to be a failure. I need to-"

"Be alone? Not have to worry about keeping up a front? To prove that you are still strong and capable? If that is why you want me to train you, then my dear you have your priorities all wrong." Maria got up and started to head for the door.

"No that is not-!"

"Think more about why you want me to train you, then come find me. To protect your team and others is an amiable and selfless thing, but do not use it as a cover for something else. Like making up for guilt for something that was beyond your control." With that the woman went back inside.

Yang, Blake, and Weiss had been watching from an upstairs open window and heard everything. They saw Ruby standing in the middle of the yard with her head bowed and hands balled at her sides, "DAMN IT!" They heard Ruby yell before she flipped the lawn chair that Maria had previously occupied before pacing the yard violently then sitting and putting her scythe back together.

"Well that went extremely well by the sounds of it." They turned to see Qrow leaning against the doorframe.

"Now you care?" Yang demanded.

"Hey I always care about you girls." He said angrily as he approached the window and saw his niece, "I taught her at Signal and for your information I was with her and the others before you lot were reunited." He didn't wait for a retort, "She is going to do something incredibly stupid now. It is only a matter of when."

He started to walk away from them, "Wait what is that supposed to mean?" Weiss demanded to know as she turned from the window to look at him, but he was already out of the room.

 _ **A/N:**_

Ok so this went from a one-shot to a three-shot. Yea you read right. You don't expect me to leave it there do you? Stay tuned for one more chapter at least…


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, so Merry Christmas! Hopefully most of you were able to see Vol 6 ep 8 Dead End. I am borrowing another element from that episode, just changing slightly to fit this story. So there is your warning.

Also I don't know if Weiss was ever told about Summer, like Blake was. So I am going with that yes, Weiss is well aware that Yang and Ruby are half-sisters, but doesn't really know about Summer. If I am wrong in that assumption, I apologize.

I owe nothing but this laptop, and student loan debt.

 **Strength and Weakness**

 _ **Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest.**_

 _ **White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test.**_

 _ **Black the beast descend from shadows.**_

 _ **Yellow beauty burns gold.**_

 _ **-**_ _Red like Roses (Red Trailer) Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams_

The living room was dead quiet, the only one left in it was Ruby, who wore a scowl on her face. They had failed to get to Atlas, her Uncle went AWOL, and what's worse is team JNR's reaction to Ozpin's deceit. Ruby squeezed her eyes shut at she remembered Jaune's reaction, and him slamming Oscar against a wall making wild accusations. Then him storming upstairs with the rest of his team behind him. Then her own team leaving her, claiming that Ren was right; they too needing some space.

The emptiness was strong, a hole in her heart widening, ' _Mom…_ ' Ruby thought mournfully. Then she straightened herself, not having thought of her mother since she last visited the Cliffside Forest by cliff before her journey with team JNR.

A feeling overwhelmed her at once as she balled her hands into fists, one that she had not felt in a long while, "There's no happy ending; every scene fades to black, and there's no pretending. This little fairy tale doesn't seem to end well. There's no knight in shining armor who will wake me from the spell." She said to herself in loathing, having wrote those words in her journal once Yang and her father told her of her mother's death and when she had first seen that cliff with the headstone.

It was bad enough that she already felt like a failure, but now to have it thrown in her face was just horrible. She felt tears come to her eyes, but she angrily whipped them away. No, she would not cry. Looking towards the stairs, where she knew Jaune, Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Maria were in separate rooms, she pondered deep in thought.

Maria had already told her once she would not train her away from her team, so she knew it was not an option to ask her again; but as Ruby thought some more on the old woman's words, her training did start in some way, " _The light will only work in the presence of Grimm; meaning the only practice you will get is a trial by fire_." Narrowing her eyes into a determined glare, she knew what she had to do. This could no longer wait. If she wanted some help, then clearly she would have to help herself. There was no white knight to save her, to save them…so she would have to save herself so that way she can save them.

She looked to her belt loop and saw the relic. Closing her eyes, she unclips it with some uncertainty. She had told Ozpin that she would hand the relic over to him once decisions had been made; however thinking deeply on it, she thinks that would be unwise at the moment. She wanted to trust the wizard, and she honestly felt like he deserved to be cut some slack and shown some sign of faith, but she had to think of the teams.

Clearly her Uncle Qrow strongly disliked the man he once trusted, her own team was feeling their own doubts again, and it was clear Jaune's team was just as angry over this. Maria really showed no strong opinion and Oscar, she could plainly see, was feeling miserable once more. Ruby frowned, and looked to her partner's stuff. Myrtenaster was leaning against Weiss's sleeping bag and she made her decision. Placing the relic next to the rapier, Ruby gathered a pen and paper.

It was later in the evening when Weiss, Yang, and Blake returned to the house with take-out in their hands, "Hey we have food." Yang called out.

They hadn't wanted to leave, but seeing the disheartened and angry looks of their former classmates, they figured that space was well deserved. They tried to get Ruby to go with them, but the scythe wielder claimed that someone needed to stay behind in case another blow up happened. Some type of movement was heard from upstairs as they went into the kitchen and started to sort the take-out, "It still feels wrong in here." Blake comments as hesitant footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs.

"Well did we expect anything else?" Weiss asked as Oscar appeared with his arms crossed, face ridden with guilt, "Hey Oscar." Weiss greeted lightly, giving the boy a look of pity. She was still of course mad, but it wasn't his fault and she felt that he didn't deserve to be attacked the way Jaune had done.

"Hi, uhm…if it is alright I think I am going to take some food and just stay in the room. I don't think they want to see me." Oscar explained sadly and started to take small amounts on his plate, "Thanks for the food."

"Hey for what it's worth," Yang commented as he turned his back on them, wincing as if he was expecting a blow, "it's not you."

Oscar sighed heavily, "It might as well be." He whispered and sulked away from them.

Blake shook her head, seeing Yang frown deeply, "So much for breaking the news gently."

Yang was still frowning, "It really isn't his fault. However-"

"We still see him as Ozpin?" Weiss admitted, but it came out as a question.

Yang winced, but nodded, "Right and after rehearing that story…just retelling it; it brought back the doubt and anger I felt before we got caught up in that horrible farm."

"I am glad I am not the only one that felt that way." Weiss admitted, "And if I am being honest, I feel kind of glad we couldn't get into Atlas today." Yang nodded, she too felt that they were nowhere near ready for whatever should await them in Weiss's former home. Especially with so much uncertainty about how to stop Salem if they couldn't outright kill her.

Blake frowned knowing what her partners were feeling and thinking; but she was also frowning for a different reason, "It wasn't just you guys, but I just feel bad for Ruby." This brought the girls up short and pausing in the rest of their unpacking as their thoughts drifted to their currently absent leader and friend, "She was trying so hard to keep us together, and trying hard to defend Ozpin. Remember what she wanted to do that night? Turn the relic back over to him?"

How could they forget? It was two nights ago that she had the conversation with Ozpin, yesterday morning she had the conversation with Maria, and just earlier today following through with the current plan to visit the Argus army base to get to Atlas. They remembered her plan to leave them once they gained access, but now that plan was shot since they were still stuck with no way to get to Atlas anytime soon, " _She is going to do something incredibly stupid now. It is only a matter of when_." Came Qrow's warning to their heads.

"Where is Ruby anyway? Normally she is scarfing down food by now." Yang commented not liking the boulder sized knot that just formed in her stomach.

They looked at each other, and before they could move, footsteps were heard coming down the stairs, and based on the sound and gait, it was Maria, "Hello girls. Thank you for bringing us food." The older woman said tying to be pleasant despite the foreboding vibe from inside the house.

"Ms. Calavera, is Ruby in your room by any chance? If she is, my I go up and get her?" Weiss asked, hoping beyond hope that this weight in her stomach wasn't due to what she thought it was due to.

Maria looked at them, the blue of her glasses narrowing in confusion, "I would say sure, but Ms. Rose is not with me. I thought she might have gone with you after that spectacle with Mr. Arc and Mr. Pine."

The girls looked at each other and ran upstairs, leaving the old woman in the kitchen. They spilt up and proceeded to bang on the doors, "What do you want?" Jaune asked bitterly answering the door to Yang. To him, he wasn't at all pleased with Ruby's teammates feeling that they should have explained the situation to them as soon as they reunited.

"Is Ruby in there with you?" She demanded to know as Ren appeared next to him.

"No." Jaune stated sharply, but seeing her pale he softened his tone, "However she might be with Nora."

"Actually she isn't." Blake responded just as sharply as he had answered Yang, with Nora joining them in the hallway.

"Oscar?" Ren offered, feeling slightly nervous but not showing it as dread started to fill in around them. Weiss was next to turn and face them, her face revealing their answer as Oscar joined them, "Ok let's not panic. It's Ruby, she-"

"You don't think…" Weiss trailed off looking at Blake and Yang, who looked at her with the same look of dread she was wearing.

Jaune looked at the girls and asked, "What else haven't you told us?"

Without answering, they went down stairs and into the living room, Oscar and team JNR following them. The first thing they saw was the Relic of Knowledge leaning against Myrtenaster, the second thing they noticed was that Ruby's stuff was missing, and as they approached Weiss's pile, the third thing they noticed was a note in Ruby's hand.

Weiss picked it up and opened it, reading it out loud:

" _Dear Weiss; I am sorry. I wish that I could have talked to you…all of you…if only for a minute. However I knew you would try and stop me, to talk me out of what I am doing. I only want to make you understand the reason why I left. I failed. I failed to protect you all that night at the farms with the Apathy. I failed as a friend and as a leader, and I internally know that this is unacceptable. I swore multiple times to you all that it would be ok, but I feel as if I am a liar._

 _I wanted to be a hero, to create happy endings for everyone…including you. However the way I currently am, the only endings I see and feel are ones that ends in misery ever after. So with that I just want to say that there is a point where it tips, and a point where it breaks. There's a line that we'll cross and there's no return._

 _I don't have a choice, I am doing what I have to do; I left. I left to master and better myself so that I can be the leader that you all need and deserve to have. I wanted to leave Professor Ozpin in charge of the relic just as I promised him; but I think he may forgive me if instead I leave it with you. It's not that I do not trust Yang or Blake or the others, but you are and forever will be my partner._

 _To Yang- Raven was right. I am just like my mother. I want to still have hope that we will defeat Salem, but at my current strength…well I need to do this. I cannot have you try and protect me all the time…especially if I do not feel worthy of being protected._

 _To Blake- I am sorry that I almost couldn't save you. I promise that will never happen again. Please forgive me._

 _To team JNR- I am sorry that we didn't tell you all sooner. Please forgive us, and Oscar…it wasn't him; however please forgive Professor Ozpin. He may have been severely misguided, but he meant well I like to think._

 _Everyone else, I will see you soon, hopefully better than when I left._

 _Love, Ruby Rose- thus I kindly scatter._ "

No one spoke a word as Weiss whispered the last line of the letter and lowered it. Yang was shaking, not in sadness, but in anger. Anger at Ruby's impulsiveness and at herself. They saw it coming, hell Qrow warned them that this would happen. Without waiting for anyone to speak, she whipped her scroll out and found Qrow's number. Tapping it, she waited for him to pick up.

Everyone just watched her as her lavender eyes turned red and they jumped as they heard her growl out, "You had better not be dead in a ditch. Pick up or call me or something. Ruby is gone." Then they winced when she started to pace and finally, after a minute, throwing her scroll across the room where it shattered against the wall.

Wisely, no one commented to the fact that Qrow wouldn't be able to call her when her scroll was shattered. Instead Jaune took action, "Come on. We'll start looking for her."

Maria shook her head, "She is not in the city. Right wizard?"

Eyes fell to Oscar, who nodded and it was Ozpin that answered, "I am afraid so."

"You know where she is?" Ren asked, the only one seeming to remain calm.

"Not exactly, but I…we…have a guess." Ozpin commented looking at Maria to explain further.

Maria sighed and started to explain, "Ruby came to me asking me to train her. I turned her down, seeing that she wanted to do this very thing. Leave all of you over the guilt of feeling not worthy enough to protect you all. She wanted to be better and felt that leaving you all would be for the best, if only temporally." Taking a deep breath she continued, "Long story short I gave her some information about her eyes and how they worked. It is pure light, a gift from the God of Light. She asked me to teach her how to use it, and unfortunately I revealed that the only training she would get is a trial by fire…in other words taking on Grimm."

"She wouldn't be that reckless…" Nora commented. However thinking about the scythe wielder, she knew her comment was wrong, especially looking at the current situation. Clearly she would.

They looked at each other, "The woods. We have to go and get her back before she gets herself killed." Yang said quickly. Then looking at Ozpin/Oscar and Maria she said, "You two-"

"We'll stay here in case Qrow comes back." Ozpin assured her gently, "Or if Ms. Rose comes to her senses."

They nodded and grabbed their weapons. Heading outside, Jaune said, "We'll stay in the city, in case Ruby hasn't left completely yet."

"We'll head to the woods. Keep us posted." Blake said nodding as Yang got out her bike along with the attached cart.

With that they split up to their areas with Ren leaving them with a reassured, "We'll get her back."

"How could she be this stupid?" Weiss asked out bitterly climbing into the cart with Blake following her as Yang gave her motorcycle a quick start, quickly pulling out into the road that would lead them back to the woods, "And how are we going to find her? Her semblance is speed. What if she is already long gone?"

Yang shook her head, "I am trying to not think about that. We…I have to believe that she thought she got enough of a start that she wouldn't need to use her semblance."

Blake sighed, "It is possible. I mean do we really know how long she's been gone?" Yang was making quick turns through the streets, houses and vehicles looking like blurs until they could see city life fading, "For all we know, we could have just missed her when we were coming back." Blake finished lamely seeing that she didn't get much of a response. Clearly trying to be an optimist was out of her realm. That was normally a Ruby thing, and from her letter their leader's optimism was at a low.

Weiss continued to glare at the passing scenery as it started to look more remote and then sees the entrance to the woods coming up, "Do we even know where in these woods she would go? This is the woods after all, she could be anywhere."

Yang slams on the breaks, causing the cart attached to her bike to jolt, making Blake and Weiss hold onto the sides to prevent them from flying out of the cart, "Ok we are all aggravated, and angry, and now feeling like shit for not stopping this; but Ruby is my little sister. I have to have something, even a tiny little bit of hope, that we will find her. I lost my mother, I lost Summer, and I will be damned if I allow myself to lose Ruby again. So can we call keep our own doubts to ourselves?"

Weiss and Blake nodded, not liking how their friend's lavender eyes are bright red and directed at them. So repositioning themselves, Yang took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm herself, "Some things in that letter were not quite right. Weiss do you have it?"

Weiss was about to say no, but she felt her pocket of her light jacket and felt the crumpled paper, "Oh yes I do. Why?"

"Let me see it." Yang momentarily turned the motorcycle off, and took the letter from the former heiress. She read through it again, this time keeping her strong emotions at bay, "These words…they remind me of when Summer passed."

"Who was Summer?" Weiss asked curiously.

Yang gave her a weird look, but then realized she never received the full story, "You have to know by now that Ruby and I are half-sisters." Weiss nodded, she had known about this part, "You met my…mother…at the camp;" Weiss's eyes narrowed at recalling this fact, "well Summer was Ruby's mom and after she went on a mission, she never came home so we presumed she must have died. Ruby was too young to remember, but Dad and I eventually told her what happened when she had gotten older, just before she went to Signal. Anyway long story short, I came across her diary and being the older sister that I am," this brought a small smile from the two girls at the way Yang presented herself, "I read it." Her bravado fell, "These words…it just reminded me she wrote in her diary after we told her about Summer's death."

Blake and Weiss frowned at this knowledge. Weiss especially since she recalled something that Ruby had said to her when they first became partners at the initiation, " _You think you know everything, huh? I lost somebody important to me. That's when I realized reality doesn't always end happily like the stories…No one's going to show up in the nick of time. No one's going to save you. So instead of being sad…and waiting for help to arrive, I decided I would be the hero. And I will. I'll turn tragedies into happy endings._ "

"So what does that have to do with anything?" Blake asked curiously, perplexed by Weiss's forlorn expression, but wanting to get back on track.

Yang frowned, "Was there any cliffs that we saw in the woods? Like when we made camp or something?"

They sat and thought for a moment. In all honesty, they couldn't really remember. There was so much that happened between the train crash and Brunswick Farm that they hadn't really fully processed their surroundings aside from making sure Grimm were not around. Seeing this, Yang sighed and handed the letter back to Weiss, "Ok then…let's try-"

There was a sound of a crow that flew low over their heads and went a ways into the woods. A few minutes later, Qrow came out, "So you tell me to call you, and you smash your scroll. What good is that?"

"Now you come." Yang stated bitterly arms crossed.

Qrow snorted and matched her posture, "Well seems like you have everything under control." He said sarcastically, "Ruby is my niece too-"

"She needed you and you go to a bar." Blake pointed out, smelling the strong scent of alcohol on him, "Some help you were."

Weiss nodded, agreeing with the faunus and brawler, but she intervened knowing that there were more important things to worry about, "Stop this alright. We need to find Ruby. Qrow-"

"Relax Ice Queen;" Weiss narrowed her eyes, "I think I might know where she is." He pulled out his scroll and started to tap in Ruby's name, "When I found out she was going to Beacon, I made sure to have a tracker added to her scroll."

"Do you have one in mine?" Yang asked, eyes going wide.

Qrow just winked as a response. After a few minutes, he said, "Ok says she is on the move…roughly twenty minutes away in…that direction." He pointed in the direction they had already been going in. Shoving his scroll into his pocket, he added, "I'll go ahead. You three try to keep a low profile."

"The hell-" The three of them started to protest.

"No, who knows what she is thinking. Or better yet she isn't really thinking. Now I'll go ahead and find her. When I do, I'll come for you. If you do happen to reach her before I do…just be careful." With that he ran into the woods, and a few minutes later, they see a black crow fly off.

Weiss hesitated as she watched the black bird fly out of sight, "Why do I have a feeling this isn't going to be a good meeting?"

"Maybe because it isn't." Blake stated back, not liking what Qrow was implying.

Yang shook her head, not wanting to believe that her little sister was going to be this difficult, but at the same time it was her little sister. Starting the motorcycle, she started to drive once more up the road. Her thoughts were in turmoil, why hadn't someone had stayed behind? Why hadn't she stayed behind to make sure she was alright? Better yet, why hadn't they just been honest and just talked to Ruby about what they had overheard?

So many questions and yet no real answer to go with them. Yang squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment before opening them and sighed once more. No matter, it ends now…it all ends now. No more quiet support. If Ruby needs to be reminded every day that she wasn't alone or a failure, then Yang would be right there.

Weiss was in much of the same thoughts. In fact her thoughts were more muddled due to her own selfishness as well.

" _I don't think you appreciate the trouble I went through to leave Atlas_."

" _I know you're worried Weiss, but trust us. Team RWBY won't leave your side for a second!_ " She sees Ruby's smile and reassuring tone came to her mind, " _I promise_."

 _ **I promise**_ , those words now haunted her. Her promise…one that Weiss had taken for granted now coming back. Ruby had broken her promise to her. That hurt more than anything. Weiss glared at the passing scenery, but then she straightened. Well she supposes that she is going to have to make Ruby keep that promise because there was no way in the four kingdoms would she go to Atlas without her.

Blake gives Weiss a curious look, seeing the former heiress's eyes narrow and face set in a determined scowl. Weiss noticed this look and shook her head. Blake shrugged and went back in her own thoughts. She supposed she could understand Qrow's wariness. She knew what it meant to be obsessive over a decision and fighting like absolute hell to stick to it. Hell she was like that once…more than once, she self-admitted remembering how Yang had to hunt her down after a sparring class the one day with Weiss; then again it was Yang that cornered her when she was obsessing over the White Fang. Even going so far as to reveal her history with obsession when she had placed herself and a baby Ruby in mortal danger with a pack of Beowulf.

Blake sighed heavily and frowned to herself. Ruby had apologized in her letter to her. She knew of course based on overhearing her conversation to Ozpin, that Ruby blamed herself for not being strong enough to fight the Apathy. How could she had believed that Blake would blame her for something beyond her control? Hell, if anything it was her fault for being so slow to not be able to fight. Ruby had done the best she could, and in all worked out in the end. Then again though, it sounded like this all steamed from the fall of Beacon, " _My team splits up and there was nothing I could do to help! I couldn't help Blake, Weiss, or my own sister! So what the hell kind of leader am I?!_ " Ruby's words come to her, and Blake squeezes her eyes shut for a moment.

Reopening them, she sees that it is now Weiss giving her a curious look. She is about to open her mouth, when she hears bangs and howls, "Yang stop!" The blonde stopped the bike, "Listen."

They sat there for a moment, when again there were sounds of gunshots and devastating howls, "Look." Weiss pointed. In the distance, there was a black smoke rising to the sky. However even from where they sat, the girls knew that this wasn't ordinary smoke.

"Shit." Yang swore and threw her bike back into drive and sped off. There was a fallen tree blocking the rest of the road as Yang swerved to a stop in front of it as Weiss and Blake gathered their weapons and jumped out of the cart as Yang turned the motorcycle off. Together they jumped over the fallen tree and raced to where they could hear more gunshots and howls.

Approaching a clearing, they are shocked when they see Ruby standing in the middle with a hoard of disintegrating beowolf bodies. Yang moves to go to her, when she feels a hand on her shoulder, "Wait. Do not move."

"Where did you come from?" Weiss asks Qrow as he removes his hand from Yang's shoulder.

"I was watching from a nearby tree." He answered simply.

"You were watching instead of helping her?" Yang demanded to know incredulously.

Qrow sighed, "She saw me, and told me to stay back. She wanted to try to use her eyes." He sighed and shook his head, "Took a good couple of beatings while trying to get the power to work. Then, when she couldn't get them to work, she chose to fight the old fashioned way."

Weiss and Blake looked at their friend and saw the frustration on her face. Ruby then slammed her scythe into the ground, "Come on! Who else wants some?!" She then began panting, "Come on I can do this all night!"

"What the hell is she doing?" Weiss demanded to know, "Is she trying to get herself killed?"

"Not on my watch." Yang growled out throwing Qrow's hand off of her, "I am going out there."

"No Yang wait-" Qrow stated.

"No, I do not care if Ruby is seventeen. I am not letting her fall into this trap that this family seems to fall into." Yang then looked at Weiss and Blake, "Well you two coming or what?"

Weiss and Blake nodded and stormed onto the field. Qrow just smirked lightly and transformed into the black crow and perched in a tree, keeping a look out for trouble. He was of course worried, and still angry about all that's happened, but he had just proudly watched his niece fight. Granted it was out of rage and frustration, but he could see that she had kept the majority of her cool and delivered swift blows of death. She is still going to get a firm talking to when they get back to the house, but for now he of all people could understanding blowing off some steam; and he felt slightly confident that with her team here, things might look better.

Ruby had found a cliff not far of the clearing she was currently in. She had found it on accident after using her semblance when she had left the house. She hadn't been sure where she was going, she just knew she had to leave. She had mediated there, wanting to feel close to her mother and to find her 'state of mind' that she could use to activate her powers.

After being there for a bit, and not getting anywhere, she decided to go on the hunt for Grimm; playing more into her emotions rather than mind frame. However that did not work out too well, it wasn't until she had been in the heat of battle that her uncle appeared ready to help, that she had sent him away. Feeling more frustrated and aggravated at having to be saved.

Now that feeling only heightened as she sees Yang, Weiss, and Blake storming towards her, "Damn it!" Ruby yelled, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Funny we were going to ask you the same thing Rubes." Yang said trying to sound upbeat and cherry, but the underlying aggravation was clearly noted…not that Ruby cared.

Ruby saw they were coming closer she shook her head and aimed her scythe right at them, "Stop where you are; and do not come any closer."

This brought everyone up short, "Ok didn't see this coming." Weiss muttered, fighting the urge to reach for her rapier.

Blake saw a glint in the silver eyed huntress that she too didn't like and was also in the same boat as Weiss, trying to not reach for Gambol Shroud. She had never had the chance in sparring with Ruby, but seeing her leader in a battle she knew that she would have a tough time keeping up, "This is not going to end well." She noted as she saw Yang undeterred by this development.

"Come on Rubes. You and I know that you do not want to fight." Yang stated keeping her stride slow and steady, the complete opposite of what she would normally do.

"Says the person who tried to teach me hand to hand combat and thinks that fighting is a way of talking." Ruby responded back, "Now I mean it Yang, stay back."

Yang stopped and looked at her little sister. It was dawning on her in this moment just how much she had grown since the beginning of her Beacon days. Not just physically, but emotionally and mentally as well. Ruby always had known what she wanted, and worked nearly ten times as hard as anyone, not letting anyone or anything get in her way.

Even when she was made team leader, Yang would never admit to this, but Weiss had been right that one day in the academy when Ruby had gotten into a fight with Cardin. At times she would 'baby' her sister, treating her more like her daughter in some cases than like a sister. When had it actually happened though? When had her little sister suddenly turn into an adult, staring her down as if she was an enemy? She locked her lavender gaze on those angry, sad, frustrated, and wary silver eyes, "Ruby please. It's us, your team."

"No shit. I am not an idiotic dolt." Ruby spat out, but they all noticed that the tone was more of self-loathing rather than directed right at them. Weiss however winced the hardest at the word 'dolt', "I left you a note saying I was leaving and I gave you my reasons. I was going to come back once I felt like I deserved to be back."

"And when have we ever gave you that impression that you didn't deserve to be with us?" Weiss cut in Yang and Ruby now facing away from each other and gave her their attention, "Didn't I once tell you that even if you were unfit to be a leader, that you would still be my friend?" Ruby shifted her defensive posture and Weiss took this opportunity, "Besides you once promised me that would all head to Atlas together. We are not leaving without you. Whether you like it or not."

Ruby's eyes narrowed at this, "I had intended on being there to go to Atlas. I was going to leave as soon as I saw an opening once we got there. Don't you all understand that I needed to do this? How much I let you all down?"

"You never let us down Ruby." Blake cut in now, "You never have let any of us down."

"I almost got you killed! All of you killed!" Ruby yelled then once she saw them move, she raised her scythe and they stopped once more hands raised.

"No you didn't. We signed up for near death experiences when we all decided to be hunters." This made Ruby flinch, and Yang quickly plowed forward, "You ended up saving us." Yang said easily, "Come on Rubes, put the scythe down and we can talk this out. This isn't you."

"Desperate times Yang and honestly there is nothing to talk about. I need to work out my own failures and I will be damned if I bring you all down with me." Ruby said softly, "I couldn't save any of you after Beacon. I got Uncle Qrow hurt when we battled Tyrian, I pulled us apart by asking that stupid question to Jinn, I was weak with the Apathy, and I led us down into that tunnel. I haven't been able to do anything right lately, so I have to do this. I have to better myself so that I can protect all of you…"

Blake sighed and tried once more, "You were not weak. You were strong, stronger than all of us at that farm. Did you not realize that you were the one who kept fighting? Even when we were all giving up? You kept fighting, you kept having hope. Yes you had a weak moment, but you snapped right out of it."

"From what we understand, Qrow chose to fight that battle. He was protecting you." Yang said as Blake encouraged her to speak, seeing that Ruby was again faulting, "It wasn't your fault, accidents happen; and that thing with Jinn, in all honesty Ozpin probably wouldn't have told us that story and we would have come up with a plan to kill Salem and end up failing. So you just gave us something else we have to figure out. It was a win really if you think about it. You saved us in advance."

Weiss nodded and hesitantly took a step forward, "You claim that you are not doing things right? Ruby you are doing the best you can despite the situation. You only have so much to work with and you are trying your best, and that is all we need of you. Right now the only thing you really did wrong is bottle all of this up and not relying on us to help you." Weiss then looked away as she added, "And we are partially responsible for that, so we are sorry."

"Sorry?" Ruby asked now confused, "What do you have to be sorry for? You all did nothing wrong."

"We did." Yang stated guilty, relaxing her own defensive posture as she saw her sister relax a bit, "We were so caught up with our own weaknesses we failed to see that you needed us."

Blake nodded along, "We overheard your conversation with Ozpin that night," oddly enough she noticed that Ruby didn't look surprised at this admission, so she continued on, "and instead of coming to you directly and try to talk to you; we decided on a different approach…clearly that didn't work out."

Weiss nodded and said, "So as you can see, we failed you. You tried so hard to make sure we were alright and reassuring us, that we neglected to see that you needed someone as well." Seeing that Ruby was actually willing to listen for the most part, she said, "Please Ruby, we need you like you need us. Do not shut us out."

Ruby closed her eyes and heaved out a heavy sigh. She opened them to see the pleading looks of her team…her family looking at her. They were right, as much as she hated to admit it. She thought back on Maria's words, " _To protect your team and others is an amiable and selfless thing, but do not use it as a cover for something else_." She really did want to protect them, but she realized that perhaps as well intended as that was…she had to face the underlying truth…she was using it as a cover on a deeper level.

She saw that they were waiting for an answer and just as she opened her mouth to give it, Qrow ran out to them, "More beowulfs are on the way." They heard it then, the chilling howls and they did not sound happy.

"What did you do sis? Raid their cave or something?" Yang asked as they got into a small circle.

Ruby readied herself, making her scythe into its sniper form and huffed, "No…" Her tone made it sound like there was something else as they looked at her, "I may or may not have baited them in some way, shape, or form." Seeing their look she adds, "Well hold on now too, who made me go all negative feeling?"

"We were all feeling like shit, can we discuss this more later?" Blake stated as a matter of fact as twenty Beowulfs made their appearance, "So who wants what?"

Ruby rolled her eyes, "Please I just took these guys out."

"Not for nothing there _**partner**_ ," Weiss stated firmly as she got closer to Ruby, "these guys look bigger and a bit more violent."

Ruby looks at the Grimm that appeared out of the woods and she could see that Weiss had a small point, "Touché. Well there are five of us so four each?" She asked looking at Qrow.

Qrow snorted, "Now you want my help kiddo?"

"Do you want to help?" Ruby asked as the creatures came closer to them and started circling them.

Without waiting so much as a response, three decide to dash forward and attack through jumping. Qrow, Weiss, Yang, and Blake dodge; but they watched as Ruby disappears in a swish of rose petals, and the beasts crash to the ground. Ruby, who reaches behind her in slow-motion, pulls out Crescent Rose, and fires a shot that blows a large part of a beowolf's head out in a burst of blood-red smoke.

More beowolves start to attack as Ruby lands. She leaps over the first beast and shoots it in the back, then, still in the air, blasts another one's side and gets into a position where she can fire at the third dead center. She rolls back and stands, unfolding Crescent Rose into its scythe form, "I thought you guys wanted to help?" She calls out.

The group shook themselves and jumped into the fray. Yang pounds her fists and together with Blake, they take out four other beowolves. Weiss uses the opportunity to use her summoning. A large knight appears out of her glyphs and with a massive swing of its broad sword, multiple dark creatures are taken out. Qrow and Ruby work back to back, jumping and spinning around each other, scythes swinging and even quickly transforming their weapons into their sniper forms at alarmingly quick rates.

Yang, Weiss, and Blake take a moment to watch the deadly dance, but focusing more on Ruby. She eventually moves away from Qrow and they watch as another brave beowulf goes forward towards the red reaper, Yang was about to move to help, but Ruby merely spins, hooks its body in the curve of her blade, and fires the sniper section at speeds that sever the creature's body in a shower of petals. Both halves land on the ground, continuing to bleed. Ruby looks over at Yang and smiles at her, "Piece of cake." She calls out as Qrow finishes the last of the pack that had attacked.

"Well I think we should be leaving now." Qrow said slowly in his drawl, "Before something else happens. I trust you guys know the way back?"

The girls nodded. He ruffled Ruby's hair, "We'll have our own talk later kid."

Ruby nods, and he walks off into the woods. The next moment she sees a crow flying back towards Argus. Sighing she looks at her team, "Alright look, I am sorry. I really thought what I was doing was best for all of us. I do not want to slow everyone down because of training, or even being responsible if one of us should get hurt." She folded up Crescent Rose and strapped the weapon on her back, "I suppose I was also using the excuse of protecting everyone as a means of making up for guilt. I guess I paved the path to hell on that one."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked slowly.

"It was a saying I heard. 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions'." Ruby quoted as she led the way out of the clearing, "I had good intentions, but look where that got us…again." She couldn't help but add as she motioned to the clearing.

Yang through an arm around her sister's shoulder, "We admitted to our mistakes; you admitted you made a mistake; that takes strength and the mark of a good leader. So it worked out."

Ruby shook her head and brushed Yang's arm off of her shoulder, "I still wish though that you would have just let me go off on my own."

"Well that is not happening so get used to it." Weiss commented then she couldn't help but add playfully, "Dolt."

"Ice Queen." Ruby muttered out, but showing a small smirk.

Weiss smirked, but then added more seriously, "Really though, being alone is not the way to better yourself. I would know. Holding yourself to high expectations never works out. It only makes things worse, and pushing people away…" She shook her head and crossed her arms, "it only leads to heartbreak."

Ruby ponders deeply on Weiss's words, "Something you wrote to me still sticks with me." Yang whispered softly that Ruby had to actually look at her sister to understand what she was saying, "You said that ' _we've all lost something_ ' and that you ' _seen what loss can do to people, but if we gave up every time we lost, then we'd never be able to move forward_ '." They stopped now, just short of the fallen tree and Yang makes sure Ruby has her full attention on her, "I think you lost confidence in yourself at some point since the fall of Beacon and the farms; and we are not asking you to share everything with us;" Blake and Weiss nodded at this, "but we are just asking that you do not bottle everything up. That you can talk to us, just like you said we could talk to you. Rubes…" at this Yang reached out and hugged Ruby close, noticing that her younger sister had gotten a bit taller in their travels, "I do not know what I would do if I loss you."

Ruby held back her tears, "You won't ever find out. I promise."

"Don't make promises." Yang stated firmly pulling away.

"Fine, I have no intention on having you find out. How's that?" They all smiled with they saw their leader's mischievous one.

Yang nodded, "A bit better."

Ruby nodded and then she looked at Weiss, "You mentioned that I promised you wouldn't be alone…I still plan on keeping that promise." Looking somewhat hesitant she asks, "Are we alright? BFF?"

"Come here you dolt." Weiss said opening her arms up. She hugged Ruby close as well, "I said we were BFF's right?"

"Just making sure." Ruby commented pulling away.

She then looked at Blake, "Any other words of wisdom?"

Blake shrugged, "They just about covered everything, but again reiterating the fact that being alone and taking on everything at once never works out well. You saw what it did to me back at Beacon when we first discovered the Fang's involvement and how that nearly destroyed me. I do not want to see that happen to you."

Ruby nodded, "Understood." She looked at her teammates and said, "Then may I just say that I also meant a couple of things as well?" They nodded slowly, not sure where Ruby was going with this, "I am seventeen."

"Wait you are seventeen? Since when?" Weiss asked.

"See I wasn't the only one who didn't catch on to that." Blake stated looking at Yang.

"I had two birthdays since we met at Beacon." Ruby said slowly.

Yang just nodded and motioned to Ruby as Weiss and Blake looked at them, "No…I am not accepting this." Weiss said, "I am sorry but no."

"What is there to accept?" Ruby asked, "I am seventeen. I am not the same fifteen year old you met at Beacon." Sensing the seriousness of the tone, the former heiress, brawler, and faunus stood at alert and gave Ruby their full attention, just as she listened to them, "We are all not the same; but yes I've seen things since I've been with Jaune's team while we've been apart. I guess I've just been feeling like there is always more I should have been doing and watching out for you more that I feel like my problems are my problems alone. Especially with…these now to worry about." She motioned to her eyes, "That being said, I assume you already talked to Maria, and know what that means."

They nodded, "Well then I guess you know that I am going to ask you guys to sort of back off more when it comes to fighting Grimm, and try to leave the majority of it to me."

"Yea and you can assume the answer to that is a big fat hell no." Yang stated firmly, "Freaky silver eye powers be damned."

"Yang-"

"Hold on a minute." Blake stated cutting both sisters off, "This is where talking comes in handy, and so does listening."

Weiss looked at her partner, already not liking the look she was getting, "I agree with Yang, but I also know where you are coming from. We are not going to just totally back off;" she looked at Ruby and then looked at Blake for support.

"And we are not just going to smother you either." Blake said taking the queue from Weiss as she looked at Yang, "We can agree to certain things though, but that all depends on what Maria has instore for your training."

"I suppose we can work something out, but Ruby-" Yang started to say.

"I know you want to protect me, but Yang this is where you can't always be worrying about me." Ruby said gently.

Yang nodded, "I know but Ruby each time you used that power you always end up passing out. Especially after that first time, you were unconscious for over a week; then there was Haven, and then the farm. Granted you didn't fully pass out at the farm, nor were you out for very long at Haven, but it took you awhile to recover." Yang sighed, "We…I…just don't want something to happen to you because you pushed yourself too much at once. Trial by fire is one thing, but to make it an inferno is another."

"Understood, but I have to talk to Maria again anyway and I am sure with her, nothing bad will happen."

"You cannot assure that." Blake said as they continued their walk, "However you both are right; having someone there who is experienced is better than Ruby running off on her own."

Weiss sighed as they came to the fallen tree and saw Yang's motorcycle and the attached cart, "Let's just get back to Jaune's sister's house and we can talk more there."

Ruby stood there for a moment or two as Yang started her bike up and Blake and Weiss got into the cart. They looked at Ruby for a moment or two before Yang said, "Ruby? You good?"

Ruby sighed, "I am in trouble aren't I?"

"No more than usual." Weiss commented lightly, "However I think everyone will understand. You said it yourself, you were desperate at the time; and unfortunately decisions made out of desperation aren't the wisest; even if it was one that resulted from good intentions."

"You are coming back with us; that is a true sign of strength." Blake said gently, "You are not running."

"Like we would let you." Yang scoffed playfully, "Anyway we weren't really all that here for you, but we are now. I am sure everyone will be once we explain what happened. I am sure that all will be forgiven."

Weiss nodded, "Exactly, we forgave you and you forgave us. Now get in."

Ruby nodded, and jumped into the cart next to Weiss. Weakness and strength go hand in hand. It was just a matter of learning to overcome those weaknesses was a true measure of strength: knowing when to seek help and knowing how to rely on her friends more. It was something they were all still learning, but now she knew that they will overcome any hardship as long as they were together.


	4. Chapter 4

Ok so final chapter I promise. This came to me after Patriot-112's review about Jaune's team talking to Ruby and how her behavior reminded Jaune of Pyrrha during her final hours. So this little plot worm made its way into my little brain and would not leave.

So without further ado, here is the chapter!

 **Strength and Weakness**

"Jaune, I am not going anywhere. You can go away now." Ruby said though closed eyes, sitting cross-legged in the yard with her precious baby next to her, "Go tell Yang I am not doing anything other than my 'homework' for Maria."

Jaune was sitting on the porch watching his friend with an air of faux innocence and ignorance about him. He stretched and replied with a smile, "I do not know what you are talking about. I am out here enjoying this beautiful morning."

"Right…let's pretend that a 'Ruby Watch List' doesn't exist with everyone's names on a schedule;" Ruby shot back sarcastically looking at him with one eye open. Satisfied that she saw him looking visibly uncomfortable.

Once she had gotten back, she was 'grounded'. However it wasn't so much as grounded as it was 'house arrest'. She couldn't go anywhere without having an escort. Ruby internally scoffed at this; Yang and Qrow had said she was forgiven, and even after swearing up and down and on her precious sweetheart, and on her cloak, and on everything under the sun that she would never do anything like she did again, her sister still saw fit to create a 'Watch List' with the names of team JNR and RWBY with her uncle and even Oscar to watch over her. Maria was training her, so her watch was when Ruby had her training with the older woman.

She had just completed her training with the older reaper, and her homework was to mediate and make sure she had a strong mental mind frame when it came time to use her silver eyes in the face of Grimm. She had told Maria of her failed attempts at trying to create one, not used to just being still and over all calmness that was required for mediation. So Maria had gone over some techniques that would help her overcome this barrier for the scythe wielder…after of course she had gotten whacked over the head with the staff for running off and worrying everyone. However no further comment of her going AWOL was mentioned after that.

"I still do not know what you are talking about." Jaune said in faux denial as Ruby huffed in annoyance, "You are doing something very un-Ruby like and it fascinates me."

"Fascinates huh?" Ruby asked trying her best to ignore his curious gaze and the overall feeling of being watched. She was supposed to be relaxing and calming her mind…he was making it very hard to do just that, "Well can you go find something else that fascinates you? You are making it really hard for me to do my homework."

Jaune laughed, "Nope. No can do. It is very rare to see you sit still and being all calm. Normally when you are sitting, you still vibrate with some sort of excitement or just frigidity."

He could see that she was getting annoyed, and it was honesty amusing him for the time being. He decided to keep pushing her buttons more, "Here is the infamous scythe-sniper rifle wielder sitting in her natural habitat soaking in the morning rays. This is believed to give the rare creature her unyielding energy;" He had changed his voice to a deep impersonation of narrator for a nature documentary, "recharging her batteries so to speak. Oh no, she sees us. Now we better be careful. One wrong move, and-"

"And I'll cut you down with Crescent Rose." Ruby said menacingly as she stood up and faced him the scythe fully open and gleaming menacingly in the morning rays, "I will not ask you again. Leave. Now."

All joking vibe left him and he stood up to meet her, "No."

"What did you say?"

"I said no. Everyone else seemed to have chewed you out and I haven't had my turn yet." So that was what this was about.

Ruby folded her scythe and said challengingly, "Well let's have it then. It's probably nothing I haven't already heard, but go ahead, please."

"No. You are not allowed to take that attitude with me." Jaune said threateningly as he pointed a finger at her, "Do you know what I've felt since the fall of Beacon?" She didn't respond, "Do you?!"

"Probably like me." Ruby stated with a calm coolness, "Worthless, lost, guilt. Do I need to go on?"

Jaune shook his head, "It's been like a hole in me. A hollow hole and I've felt that I let Nora and Ren down because I let Pyrrha go." This admission made Ruby startle for a moment and drop her annoyance. She looked at him as he had turned his head and clenched his fists at his side, "I found her statue while we were looking for you." She strained to hear him as he whispered this to her.

"Jaune…" Ruby said softly.

He turned and ended up punching the tree next to him. Ruby flinched, but made no move to go over to him. She just patiently waited as he took a deep breath and said, "You up and left. I do not give a crap if you thought it was for the right reasons. Pyrrha did the same thing…" He trailed off. ' _Jaune…I…I…I want you to know that I am happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune._ ' Her haunting words that he memorized from the training video came to him, "And she never came back."

"Jaune I am sorry. I tried…I didn't…I wasn't fast-" Ruby started to say as she looked away from him.

"I am not saying this to blame you." Jaune said gently, but even as he says this, their final moments together flashed to his mind and his sister's backyard fades as he sees the front of Beacon Tower; the place that has haunted his dreams for some time now:

" _ **I…**_ " _Their conversation had been interrupted by an explosion, followed by Cinder using fire to fly up through the elevator shaft. The two teens stare at the tower in surprise._

 _Jaune's voice breaks as he stares mournfully at the tower,_ " _ **But... Ozpin...**_ "

 _Pyrrha shakes her head,_ " _ **There's no time.**_ " _Then taking on a determined tone, she looks at him, vivid green eyes meeting his blue eyes,_ " _ **Go. Get to Vale and call for help.**_ "

 _He is momentarily confused for a moment as he looks at her,_ " _ **Huh? What are you gonna do?**_ " _Pyrrha slowly turns her head to stare up at the top of Beacon Tower. Following her gaze, Jaune realizes what she plans to do and he immediately starts to protest this ridiculous and possible suicidal idea,_ " _ **No...No, Pyrrha, you can't. You saw how powerful she is! Pyrrha, I won't let you do-**_ " __

 _Suddenly, Pyrrha grabs his head in both hands and silences him with a long kiss on the lips. After a moment of hesitation, he gently pulls her in and returns the kiss, while Pyrrha slightly raises her foot behind her. She then pulls away, ending the kiss, and stares into his eyes, one hand on his cheek and the other on his chest,_ " _ **I'm sorry.**_ " _She says sadly with a watery smile._

 _She then uses her semblance on his armor, pushing him directly into a nearby locker, which slams shut from the impact,_ " _ **Hey! Wait! Stop, stop! Pyrrha, please don't do this!**_ " _He pleads as he pounds on the door. He watches helplessly as she walks over to the locker and begins typing coordinates into it. Her green eyes lock on his as he gives her one last pleading look for her to not do this before he feels the locker jolt and fly away from her._

Ruby just stands and watches him closely; seemingly to know where his thoughts have drifted to; if his faraway gaze is anything to go by. In fact it is the same timeframe as they talk about their fallen friend, only her memory is not pleasant. It too is just one of many scenes that haunts her; one of the many that drove her to making the desperate decision:

 _She and Weiss were frantically fighting off Grimm at the base of Beacon Tower. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the battle that is occurring between Cinder and Pyrrha,_ " _ **We've gotta hurry!**_ " __

 _Weiss looks around for a moment, before casting a series of glyphs up the side of the tower,_ " _ **You can do this.**_ "

 _She doesn't really acknowledge her teammate, as she runs forward then uses her semblance to propel herself up to the first glyph. She then sprints up the wall, the glyphs propelling her forward and keeping her from falling off._

 _Ruby finally reaches the top of the tower, landing in a kneeling position. She looks upon the scene, seeing Pyrrha sitting with her eyes closed, accepting the fate that awaits her. She is paralyzed and helpless as she watches Cinder releases the arrow, which plants itself directly in the center of Pyrrha's chest. Ruby watches in horror as Pyrrha gasps in pain, the wound in her chest emitting a red glow. Cinder approaches her fallen foe and places a hand on Pyrrha's head, using her Maiden powers to flash incinerate her._

 _Pyrrha instantly ceases all movement and sound, her body glowing orange and then scattering as embers. Her headdress remains in Cinder's hand, and the villain drops it on the floor. This moment forever seared in Ruby's mind as she feels her eyes well with tears. She finally feels able to move and a hot power welling up in her. Her mind goes blank as she clenches her fists, curls her arms to her body, and then suddenly flings her arms out to the sides, beginning to levitate slightly off the ground. Brilliant white light flows from her eyes as she screams out the name of her dear friend,_ " _ **PYRRHAAAAAA!**_ " _Then nothing as the last thing she remembers is a white light._

Jaune is just watching her, finally free of that dreaded memory. He sees the haunted look in Ruby's silver gaze, "I know you did the best you could." He offers again, trying to pull her out of her own horror of that night.

"It wasn't good enough." Ruby said bitterly, eventually being released from her mind.

Jaune sighed and started again, "I have nothing against you Rubes. You know this. Why do you think we went with you?" Without waiting for a response, he continues, "I know we weren't your team; but I just thought after all this time you knew you could have talked to us…talked to me. Ruby come on, I am a team leader just like you are. You didn't think I would understand?"

Ren had said as much when he talked with her, Ruby reflected once he and Nora had cornered her. Nora, for her part, just whacked her upside the head and harshly scolded her for her irrational actions. Ren, well his silent talk and soft disappointment tone made her pity any future children he would have. Somehow that made the ball of guilt heavier than her conversation with her sister, Weiss, and Blake.

Now though, just looking at Jaune and hearing him compare her to Pyrrha…might as well just put a heavy weighted chain on her and throw her in the ocean and be done with it for all she cared right now; but she supposed the ocean could wait, seeing as he was expectantly waiting for her response, "I…" Shit, she didn't know what to say. So she said nothing and just put her hands behind her back, kicking an imaginary rock.

Jaune sensed this and sighed before running a hand through his hair, "You do not have to answer. I guess I am one to talk though. Here I am scolding you for bottling crap up, and I've been doing the exact same thing."

She looked at him now and cracked a small smile, "I guess we have a lot to learn to rely on our teammates and friends huh?"

This made him smile too, "Yeah I guess. Ren and Nora kind of gave me the same pep talk about blame when we saw her statue." His smile fell and he said sheepishly, "I also apologized to Oscar, if that helps you in anyway. It really wasn't him, or Ozpin's fault. It was no one but Cinder and Salem's."

Ruby nodded, "I know, I am coming to terms with everything myself; but everything just hit-"

"You do not have to explain." Jaune said holding his hands up to make her stop, "Really, I know you do not want to talk about anything too heavy right now;" She nodded gratefully at his understanding, "but just know that you do not have to hide anything from us. We all love and care about you and for me…you are like my sister." He took a deep breath and said softly, "I just do not want the same thing that happened to Pyrrha happen to you."

"Jaune that's sweet, but I pro-"

"Do not promise things that are impossible to keep." Jaune said firmly.

Ruby sighed and nodded, "Then I will promise to try and not do anything reckless, stupid, and to come back to everyone in one piece. How's that?"

Jaune nodded, "Better. Now I'll be more than happy to tell Yang to back off a bit so you can study."

He turned to go back inside, "Hey Jaune?" Ruby called out. He hummed and turned to look at her, "The offer expends to you as well." He cocked his head to the side, "If you need to talk or something; I am here for you too."

He nodded and smiled, "Thanks…Crater Face."

Ruby scowled and crossed her arms, "Seriously? I accidently blow up Beacon's courtyard one time…"

Jaune laughed, "Well it was pretty memorable."

"Ok so it's like that is it?" Ruby stated challengingly, "Well does Vomit Boy meaning anything to you?"

"Hey!" He yelled indignantly, "That was one time. Airsickness is a real thing you know."

"Right one time…I saw you sneak off after we had gotten off that aircraft that one time;" She pantomimed hiding behind a bush and faked heaved.

Jaune's face was looking as red as her cloak, "Crater Face."

"Vomit Boy."

"Cape girl."

"Bunny shirt."

They stared at each other challenging before breaking into laughs and gave each other a hug, "It's good to have you back Rubes." He sighed giving her a tight hug.

"You too Jaune." She broke the hug and went back into the yard as he went inside, meeting Nora and Ren in the living room, amused expression on their faces.

Nora stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, "She going to be alright?"

Jaune turned back and looked out the door as Ruby got re-settled, "I think so."

"You going to be ok?" Ren asked. Even despite their talk by Pyrrha's statue, he could still see the underlying sadness in his friend's eyes. It wasn't as prominent, but it was still there.

Jaune smiled sadly, "I will be. I think we all will be." He sighed and turned away from the door, "Let's go work out an idea on getting to Atlas before the meeting tonight." Ren and Nora watched him leave the living room. They took one last look at outside at the red reaper, agreeing that for the first time since knowing the truth that they started to have hope once more and their teams were starting to get their strengths back.


End file.
